Saturday, September 24, 2011

CURATOR’S STATEMENT: Dialogue at Brattleboro Museum

Jackie Abrams & Josh Bernbaum: DialogueJuly 15 - October 23, 2011

by Mara Williams, Curator

Continued growth is a necessary component in art making, as it is in most endeavors in life. Stretching yourself in order to explore a new idea, in a medium over which you already have mastery, involves risk taking, most often alone in the studio.

Basket maker and weaver Jackie Abrams and glass maker Josh Bernbaum chose collaboration as a way of exploring, expanding, and eventually fusing their artistic practices. This exhibit traces the trajectory of their artistic partnership.

Their first explorations are best characterized as “call and response.” Jackie gave a woven vessel to Josh and he translated it into glass. Before long, their reinterpretations gave way to intensive conversations and experimentations.

The resulting pieces are dynamic fusions of fiber and glass—molten shapes girded in copper; translucent and opaque glass rods laced with cording; glass pods encased in a tracery of fabric. Each piece seamlessly blends technical ingenuity with aesthetic considerations. Color, pattern, texture, and proportion along with the qualities of light (reflectivity, opacity, translucence) that animate glass are all harnessed to striking effect.

What began as a dialogue between two artists is now a conversation between art and viewer. I trust you will find the exchange stimulating!

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